


All that shines isn't gold

by BeeLive (PearlBear)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alpha/Omega Verse Without the Hypersexualized Scenting and Mating, F/M, Forced Bonding, It's matter-of-factly instead, M/M, Mpreg, No beta we die like Neji useless and forgotten and clickbait worthy, Prisoner to Jailor, SI-OC, but I don't get into detail because I failed actual biology in school so nevermind imaginary biology, like 'Wait so you're an omega? Cool. Btw. Have you watched the latest episode of Nin-In-Love?', when the going gets tough keep going
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:40:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28790391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PearlBear/pseuds/BeeLive
Summary: "Please," he finally rasps out. "Please, whatever your orders, please don't make it hurt."The tempest within makes room to reluctant acceptance, despaired surrender.This isn't ideal. But. It could be so much worse.Or: Being a lowly grocery store employee, doesn't mean you're safe and certainly doesn't mean you haven't offended anyone.And in a world where hiring shinobi to kill, hinder and sabotage is the norm, well. You're not exactly off to a good sta- pardon, you're not exactly off to a good end.
Relationships: Uchiha Obito & Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 45
Kudos: 77





	1. Target to Kill

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly writing out of boredom and that isn't the strongest motivator. But here's to hoping.

"Ah, sorry." Asuka's apology is followed by a yawn he muffles, sidestepping the fellow he bumped into and cracking his back and neck.

Said fellow reappears in front of him.

Asuka stops. Raises his downcast gaze slowly.

Stops it at a muscled, very fit torso, skin-tight garment with a brand on its nest.

Shinobi.

He takes a shuddering breath. Tries his luck.

"Listen. I'm just a grocery store employee, mate. Sir. I don't want no trouble." He doesn't look at the face of this guy, lest recognition alights his traits, eyes decisively settled on the Leaf insignia sewed into the gloves. "Whatever this is about, I'll cooperate."

"Your father sends his regards."

His father. Of fucking course he sends them. Asuka swallows, fury and powerlessness warring within. His fists tighten, the urge to flee, fight,  **live** , wired deep within.

"Please," he finally rasps out. "Please, whatever your orders, please don't make it hurt."

The tempest within makes room to reluctant acceptance, despaired surrender.

This isn't ideal. But. It could be so much worse.


	2. Alive? Wait. Why?

He opens his eyes, to the night sky, wondering if death always is like this and he merely forgot the first time. But no.

It's _not_. 

"I'm alive," blurts out Asuka, sitting up in one swoop, on the grass.

A giant of a man is looking at him, grimly. Next to him a blonde haired man is watching, so utterly blank it's a miracle he isn't a corpse.

Asuka. Is intimidated of course. Both these men are shinobi, both of them look if not angry then, yeah, no, they are angry and he thinks it's at _him_.

He's about to move but he can't do more than crack his neck until he can make out a fellow behind these two, seated on the ground, in a position similar to Asuka's, with a crackling fire beside him, and a shadow stretched under him.

The silence stretches. Asuka is overpowered, surrounded by three highly dangerous psychopaths that his sycophant of a genitor hired to murder him; most likely painfully; with zero means of escape and a poker face that sucks dick.

"Somehow, I don't think this is part of what my father asked."

He hates poker.

"You're pregnant," bluntly says the Yamanaka.

"Well, yeah," Asuka would shrug but he can't exactly. "I'm an omega." Somehow, he also doesn't think this is them having qualms about murdering a pregnant O.

"You're pregnant with an _Uchiha,_ " clarifies the Yamanaka, like that's relevant.

Asuka raises an eyebrow, mind computing to _huh, that actually makes some sense_ then to _no, that cannot be_.

"I said I'd cooperate," he starts slowly, choosing to look at none of the fellows in the campsite but rather at the inviting, inviting ground, "so I'll cooperate."

He wants to scratch his ear, dismisses the thought because he can't. "I'm pregnant but it's my girlfriend's. I've never even been with anyone else." Here he is, stuck in a clearing with three people that want him dead, revealing intimate details of (t)his life. "I don't think she's an Uchiha. She's blond, has green eyes and her entire family is accounted for." 

Even her great-grandpa, Ryuu-Oujisama, is alive and kicking.

"We've checked," creepy eyes-washed out hair says. "She is a civilian without a drop of Uchiha blood."

Asuka doesn't like where this is going. But he can see where it is going.

"Listen. I get it." He forcibly starts, refusing to consider that his _father_ kicked him out because he is not his father. "This is a godsend to you people." Or that _Uchiha_ _fucking Itachi_ ; _or Uchiha Obito villain extraordinaire_ ; used genjutsu to date-rape him at some point, two months ago. "An Uchiha foetus strong enough to have a chakra signature. Hooray. But it doesn't mean shit. There were complications and the probability I'll lead this to term are below the ten percent. So, just kill me now and spare us all the trouble." He's not above begging but doubtful it'll move any of these three.

"That's not possible." The Akimichi doesn't try to be kind and that's a kindness in itself. "We'll be taking you back to Konoha, where you will remain till you bring it to term."

"And then you'll kill me." Flatly says Asuka, relieved that he's got no tears left to spill after the depressing few weeks he and Kaori have been through.

"And then, we'll kill you," confirms the Nara, Shika-something no doubt.

The clouds part and Asuka gets a good look at his blasted captors, choking on saliva when he recognizes the famed, unmistakable Ino-Shika-Cho Sr.

The - _his-_ old man pulled out the big guns.


	3. FML

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shikaku is not an ally. None of them are.
> 
> Here, they are shinobi. They do what needs to be done.
> 
> It'll bite them back in the arse, but all in due time.

Drugging him is putting #UchihaNinToBe at risk, so Akimichi Chouza carries him, and Asuka is of mind that is one of the shittiest, most embarrassing things to come out of all of this.

He's not exactly _small_ or _short_ so, it's for now, the most awkward to have a tall man carrying another tall dude while jumping on trees and shit.

Kami, what he wouldn't give to. To just _die_.

It's a surprising realization but Asuka either wants to live or he doesn't.

It's not a switch he can flip either. Safe to say, his reflexes will be hardwired on suicide for whatever amount of time he has left.

Fuck.

"How old are you?" 

He doesn't glance up from where he'd been drawing on the dirt with a stick, wondering instead why Yamanaka Inoichi pretends not to know.

Belatedly, he remembers an answer is to be given. "Fifteen." Plus fifteen. Thirty.

Maybe this is meant to be his destiny. Granted he is reborn again, he bets he'll die at fifteen again. Only this time, he'll be psychologically ready. And a middle-aged man although really? People grow from experience. Being a child then a teenager again is bound not to help with his maturity levels or lack thereof.

"That's a bit young."

Asuka snorts. It's an understatement. Pregnant at fifteen, with a girlfriend two years older, having left home over three years ago.

(T)his life is prime soap opera material.

"Got at it early." He settles on and gives up on trying to figure out this man's angle.

The Yamanaka is no longer feigning curiosity. This is a full blown interrogation and it's made clear with his next question. "How early?" Fuck him.

Asuka's mouth twists into a bitter line. "If you absolutely must know, at twelve years old, Shinobi-san." The stick breaks when he puts too much force on top of it.

Kami. He just wants to _die_. Is that too much to ask? 

_Just this morning, I was with Kaori and her brother,_ having breakfast, trying to find a normal rhythm after an intense two weeks of grieving.

"You said your girlfriend was the only person you've had sex with."

"God, can you be-" Raging at a man who can and will torture him, psychologically if not physically is such a bad idea, Asuka is relieved when he manages to snap his mouth shut. "Penetrative sex with." He finally says, scowling hard at his half-finished sketch. "There were plenty before."

For a twice stupid rich kid, with no valuable life skills to exploit, life on the streets is tough. His father did him dirty.

"How many?"

"Thirty? Fourty?" Probably less.

The blank face Asuka glances at gives him the creeps. "An exact number, if you please." 

Is it too late to beg them to kill him? Probably. The freaking Jounin Commander himself comes back right then, probably from peeing and Asuka focuses less on _why the fuck send this specific team_ and more on counting.

He jogs his memory and scoffs. The numbers are closer to sixty. "Fifty-three, give or take." 

God, his Gran would be so disappointed that he had to resort to _that_. She probably would have disinherited him.

"Here."

Asuka might not need to beg for suicide-via-murder. Akimichi Chouza's reappearance startled him enough for a heart attack.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry." 

The possibility that they might force feed him crosses his mind. Which is why when the hand doesn't retract, he takes the onigiri without another word. It's tasteless.

Asuka, the last time, died tortured on live camera, presumably watched by the team of detectives that'd been trying to figure out his location.

His last conscious thought had been that his family should have chosen him and paid the bloody ransom instead of involving police.

That's why he knows to keep his head about. That's why he'd rather die. And that's why, he is so terrified of pain, that if these psychos make a game out of feeding him trash and dirt, he'll gladly play along, eagerly awaiting the moment they snap his neck.

"Anyone in particular?"

"Not really." They all looked the same. Although well.

Yamanaka Inoichi rises and kneels in front of him. Asuka swallows back, throat tight when he sees the clear warning in the man's eyes.

"Whether it is insignificant or not, is up to me to decide."

"The Toad Sage. Jiraiya of the Sannin." Blurts out Asuka, pupils dilated, hands trembling. "Super-pervert, pays very, very well, needed material for his book. That's how he introduced himself."

The mind-reader tilts his head, in acknowledgement of the words. "That's not it. And you know it."

_Kage-level shinobi don't leave loose ends dangling_.

He hates shinobi. He hates _these_ shinobi. He hates that he can't lie to the face of this motherfucker. Hates that he has to give fucking in.

"I d-don't know why he d-didn't kill me." Asuka stutters out. "He should have, but he didn't. But he _should_ have. Except that when he was done, and he had a knife in hand, it was like he couldn't see me, like I didn't exist anymore. He left in a daze."

The pupiless eyes bore hard into his for what could as well be an eternity.

"I see."

It's a relief when Yamanaka gets up and away from him. A pity too. Asuka vomits his guts out right after and he wouldn't have minded it be on the man.


	4. Odd as they go

The blessedly hot shower he takes is the best thing after two days spent trekking in dirt. The talk, isn't so much.

"You've not cried." Denotes Akimichi Chouza, eyeing him curiously.

"Would you let me be, if I cried you a river?" The question is filled with genuine, morbid curiosity.

The corpulent shinobi chuckles, amused. "You're a peculiar one, Asuka-kun."

Shrugging is the defacto reply to one such comment. Unflappably, Asuka dries his hair, gaze settled anywhere other than one of them.

"It is interesting though." That's Yamanaka. "You haven't so much as asked after your family." They're all fairly dangerous, but the one specialized in interrogation and torture is  _ the _ fucker, hence why Asuka places him slightly above the two others in terms of potential pain dealer. Shinobi's a sadist as proved by this question, meant to poke and hurt and provoke.

Asuka calmly explains what he came to terms with an instant after being approached by the Nara was it? "Either they think I'm dead or missing." If it's the latter, they'll request a mission, paying the very shinobi village that killed him to find trail of him.

Konoha will gleefully take the money and regretfully inform them, after a fashion, that he died long ago, completing the mission and maintaining their spotless record and client satisfaction rate.

Dog eats dog world. "She'll be fine anyway." Which is sad but also true. Might as he loves Kaori, truth be told she'll move on after getting a definite answer on his whereabouts. Because at their core, they're both just using one another.

She, to feel loved and wanted. He, to feel loved and wanted. They're happy though. Or well, they were.

Life is shit. But no matter. Given time, he will die. Inevitably. The reality of his mortality is the one thing no one can take away from him.

"You're weird, kid." Says the Nara, closing the subject in favour of exchanging hand-signs with the others.

Asuka hears the unsaid though.

What the Jounin Commander meant, was _weird_ _even by shinobi standards_.


	5. Danger comes in waves

"This is a kunai." Says Nara out of nowhere.

Asuka eyes the knife, then slowly nods.

"I'm not going to cut you to pieces." Drawls the man, piercing gaze set on him.

Right. So why?

"You called it a knife earlier. It's not. It's a kunai."

"Okay." Asuka says, in finality agreeing with the warden holding the weapon.

Nonetheless, no matter what anyone says, that's not a kunai.

Kunai to him, is too foreign a word to fully encompass what the object in nature is.

A knife. 

A throwing knife used to kill and maim, casually waved around and carried by children as small as five.

It's not the same to think 'children throw kunais at people and are applauded' as it is to acknowledge that 'children throw knives at people and are applauded'.

There's a bloody difference. And he refuses to forget it.

"Here. Throw it."

Asuka slowly reaches out for the knife. It's lighter than it looks. "Target?" He softly asks.

Nara squints then points behind him. "The mark on the tree to my le-"

He's not done talking that Asuka's thrown it, the knife flying past Nara's face.

It hits bullseye.

The man regards him differently. Asuka doesn't straighten but neither does he cower.

"Is that all, Sir?" He says lowly, gaze never straying from a sick fucker's.

They keep standing there, quietly, until Nara nods, once.

Asuka settles on the floor, legs crossed and not much to do.

His hobby, before life kept screwing him over, used to be the circus. Throwing knives specifically with funambulisme a close second. Much good it's done him.

Asuka acknowledges he was wrong.

He ups Nara Shikaku to first position.


	6. Food for thought, not comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ino-Shika-Cho are lingering for a reason.
> 
> It'll come up in later chapters.

Asuka doesn't spare a single glance at the cute waitress who's making a show of herself flirting with him.

"And what will you have, Shinobi-san?" Saccharine tone, sweet smile, appraising gaze.

"What he's having." How anyone can look at him and see a shinobi, is beyond him entirely.

Waitress-chan; _call me Keiko_ ; turns to Inoichi, fairly disappointed but professional enough to take his order. The man, monster he may be, still has good taste, food wise.

Asuka would rather not push his chances either. Food, clothes, _consciousness_ all of these are privileges that can and will be retracted at a moment's notice.

Nevermind _picking_ what he can and cannot eat. That's not even on the table.

"Remember last time we were here?" Nara hasn't really spoken to Asuka since the 'free kunai instructions'. It's a relief.

"Inoichi scandalized the chef." Akimichi says, with a malicious grin. "By sheer virtue of being himself."

Asuka tunes them out, then. Handy little leftover from the trauma that in the first place saw him dead.

The women next to him are happily munching on desserts, chatting about this or that movie; he can't quite make out what they're saying; and overall, looking to the world like housewives who've finally gotten a break from their families.

"--ou involve a bear at some point?"

Probably, they would get along something awful with Kaori. His ex, bless her bleeding heart, was uncouth, blunt and sweet but also unnerving, ambitious and furious.

"Stop acting like playground--"

Nevermind at _who_ or for _what_. Kaori, for as long as he's known her, has been inhabited with a rage that makes his own pale. 

"Of course. Must remember Inoichi-sama hates having his tools turned against him."

That in itself had been an achievement.

"Here are your orders!"

Keiko is back, with another waitress to log along Akimichi's massive order. Were it not for his chakra system, the fellow would be obese.

Asuka keeps his gaze glued to the table, until his careful analysis of the wooden furniture is replaced by a neat and hot takoyaki dish that one of the girls settles in front of him.

He mutters something that could maybe be discontructed as a thank you, and hears her and her friend giggle excitedly.

And this is why people shouldn't employ hormonal teenagers. No professionalism.

"How did you meet Kaori-san, Asuka-kun?" Says Yamanaka, who has no intention of waiting after the meal to get to work.

Asuka eyes his food with distaste; he doesn't like fish but mostly, he doesn't like Yamanaka; and answers. "Her ex-boyfriend would buy things during my shift. He introduced us." Because answering is what one does, when one is little more than an imprisoned and glorified womb.

"What kind of things?"

"Pads, Shinobi-san. Pads and tampons, presumably for her."

If only it disgusted them fro- wait. Was that a _grimace_ ? Asuka bites his lip not to smile. Indeed it was. A flicker of annoyance, a grimace, these men, who are regularly covered in piss and crass and blood and other bodily fluids, make a face at the _mention_ of a woman's _period._

My, my.

Yamanaka hums, food discarded in favour of Asuka. "Did he always buy the same things?" Fascinated he is, at the glimpse of emotion.

"He did."

"And?" Asuka takes a bite of food. Yamanaka specifies. "How did you go from bagging his goods to banging his girl?"

Even with the choice of words, the man pokes and prods. "He'd gush about her." Yamanaka probably doesn't even believe in rubbish like 'his girl'. "And he was friendly. When I met them at a festival, he took the time to greet and introduce me."

The rest, as they say, is history.

Next to him, Nara is invested in a conversation he's having with Akimichi. Yamanaka always faces him. Be it at camp or at a table, be it when Asuka is sleeping or shitting.

"Did you remain friends?"

No sense of property, a slipping sense of self. Asuka would be a mess, but this isn't the first time it's happened, so he isn't.

"We weren't friends to begin with." He settles down his chopsticks, feeling sick. The waitress - Kyoko? - comes back right then, to ask them, specifically him, if there's anything else she can help with.

Akimichi has opinions, of course. And he isn't shy to make them known. "Three additional sushi specials. Yakisoba, and more barbecue meat, please."

"Some sake." Says Nara, stretching like a cat, a lazy, lethal cat.

"Make it two." Snaps Yamanaka, sending an annoyed glare at the waitress.

Must be that she interrupted his interrogation. Man does like his toys.

She pales, smart girl that she is, and leaves, no longer smiling adoringly at Asuka.

"You're popular." Akimichi remarks, laser like focus settled on the barbecue.

Asuka replies, since he can't do much else. "Yeah." Never mind that it wasn't a question so much as a statement.

"Has to do with his appearance." Nara says, speaking directly to his teammate. "It's like Inoichi. They only see the superficie."

Yamanaka throws his head back and laughs, delighted. The women at the booth next to theirs, look on dazzled.

"You finally confess to my good looks, Shikaku."

"Eh. Not much to confess there."

Distractedly, Asuka acknowledges these two, these three must have had at least a few one night stands with each other. Sex is too vulnerable a position, with assassins and death threats hanging about.

"Although," thoughtfully says Akimichi. "You're much more handsome than even Inoichi was at your age, Asuka-kun."

Much like shinobi hold knives to the throats of their whores, allies dangle trust and missing-nin-hood over each other's heads. Makes sense they'd only trust one another for a quick bang. 

"Thanks." Asuka blandly says, leaning against the back of his chair, waiting them and their massive appetites out.

"You get a lot of attention," remarks Nara, turning to get a better look. "Everywhere you go. Even now. Half this room is still glancing at you while the other half did a double-take when you came in."

This, Asuka feels, is safe to answer with an indifferent shrug. It's hard to be invested in appearance when his so dramatically and drastically changed.

"Kaori-san on the other hand, is far from pretty." Nara is petty and vicious. Sprinkle on top of that taught sadism, a big ego, an unmoving sentiment of superiority and you get this, him. "Why did you choose to date her?" 

"I fell for the idea of her, Sir." 

Of course the shinobi isn't satisfied by the reply.

"Ho?"

What else to expect from a man that sees chess pieces instead of soldiers? 

"That's the first lie you've said, so far."

Asuka frowns. "It's not a lie." His gaze doesn't flicker left or right, not when he's long mastered the ability to look at nothing as if it were something.

"Not that you know."

And just like that, they snap back to a conversation amongst themselves, the attempt at psychological warfare blunt and direct enough for him to pick up.

But, Asuka understands, they need not make it subtle.

They have the advantage. Training, age, numbers.

This to them, is just killing time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the Ino-Shika-Cho but I know they're shinobi too.
> 
> This here, shows them under that light in contrast to the family bubble lull usually found.


	7. Break what's dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter depicts a sexual assault scene.
> 
> If this might trigger you, jump to the next one! (And please, talk to someone. You're not alone❤)

Dying is painful. Nerves shut down, the heart fails to pumps enough air to keep functioning, the mind jugs to comprehend. Until finally, comes the void; where all the pain ceases to be, and is only left comfort, and warmth, final instants no longer spent in agony.

That's what Asuka dreams about at night.

….

Akimichi shakes him awake. Asuka cracks an eye open, tries to sit down, but his movements are sluggish, his breath, rancy and his entire body, on fire.

"Drink." Cold liquid is poured in his mouth. Asuka chokes, a hand keeping his jaw shut, until he manages to swallow, too weak to cough.

Sleeping, fainting. Whichever it is, is a relief.

....

There are teeth on his nape, on his gland and if Asuka was so far willing to let them do whatever; because they're way fucking stronger; this kickstarts his survival instinct.

He flails, tries to push whichever of the fuckers is doing this away, but he is pinned to the ground and teeth pierce the skin at his throat and Asuka _screams_ and _thrashes_ , his mind fighting back to regain control, body convulsing.

Marking someone is far too intimate. It's what people do their spouses. Or their loved partners.

Kaori brought it up every now and then, and Asuka gladly shut her down with the same, intemporal argument.

_'Too dangerous for O's under sixteen, let's wait'._

He should have known. He tries to kick the shinobi forcing his legs open, to no avail, clumsy civvie that he is. But he should have known.

It's too dangerous for O's under sixteen. But it's better for pregnancies. At the detriment of him in the long-term, it stabilizes the foetus, short-term. They'd refused to sacrifice him for its sake, he and Kaori.

These soldiers are the opposite.

The knotting is painful. Asuka, in his feverish like state, only wants to faint. For them to drug him.

Anything except this extreme awareness of a throbbing cock inside, of his body accepting where his entire soul rejects. He exhales and crashes against the ground, arms and legs still pinned, his penis completely flask, hissing when finally, whichever of them it was pulls out.

It's relief he feels when he realizes he's not cried. Spent himself screaming and thrashing, yes. Cried and begged? No.

Good. _Good._

The fever is receding, his consciousness is returning and Asuka, when he finds he can move his arms, slowly sits down, torn, in pain too much fucking pain.

"There's a river close by. I'll take you." Yamanaka gives him space, stands at a polite distance. _And h_ _e thinks it's fucking enough? As if._

Asuka bites down the cheek. It'll do him absolutely no good.

Slowly rising, he follows the man, maybe the rapist, definitely the collaborator, at a sedated pace, unable to walk more than a few steps every time.

He hadn't forgotten what they're capable of. It's still good to get a more direct reminder.


	8. Fuck it.

Nara did it. It's pretty obvious in hindsight.

Yamanaka is an omega, if Asuka is to hazard a guess.

Akimichi pinned him down. Nara did the deed.

It doesn't really matter either way.


	9. Turn it on its head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shinobi are an odd bunch.
> 
> Capable of the most heinous actions, only to come back to civil society with smiles and laughter to spare.
> 
> Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza are still the merry trio we love and favour. But that's who they are at home, with allies and family.
> 
> Here? They're on a mission, and no compassion rears its head because the horror of it, is that there is none to be given.
> 
> (You don't make it to jounin whilst retaining basic human emotion towards the enemy. It's just not done. And when it is, the coping alternative is massive).

"Who are you really?" 

Asuka raises an eyebrow, head throbbing. He hasn't felt particularly well since. Yeah, since then.

"How you behave is at odds with what we've been told." Insists Yamanaka, leaning against the bark of the tree across Asuka's spot. "So I reiterate. Who are you really?" 

Is this a thing now? Kidnap, abuse, assault him then have the galls to demand why he hasn't broken down?

He wants to massage his temples, see if it'll alleviate the pounding headache. Asuka doesn't give in to the urge. 

"I do not comprehend what it is that you want." He doesn't. They said they'd take him back to Konoha and Konoha is nowhere in sight.

Asuka wishes then that he were a secret badass, some legendary spy or warrior. Then at least, he could have killed them in their sleeps instead of worried in his own.

Not that they have or will ever have cause to fear. Or enough conscience to feel guilty. Nara's even and tranquil breathing pattern speaks volume of the quality of his naptime these days.

"That, right there. 'I do not comprehend' instead of 'I don't know'. You're too well-educated, Asuka-kun." Akimichi, stood a few feet away, clarified. 

_What?_ "Of course I am." Asuka's incredulous tone of voice doesn't sit well with the no longer napping rapist, who sees fit to speak up. 

"Expand on that, will you? I'm afraid we're not in your head."

"What else could I be," grits out Asuka, forcibly lax, "when I was born and raised in a palace, is what I mean." 

The silence stretches in the clearing, until Yamanaka's soft tenor cuts through.

"Are you not a bastard?"

The implications and possible ramifications of the question hit Asuka. His lips twitch in what _would have been_ amusement, in his other life maybe.

"There's obviously been some miscommunication on your end. Azusa," Prince, "of the Land of Fire. Legitimate as one gets. Pleasure, I'm sure."

The delivery is sardonic. Deadpan. Indifferent.

Maybe this changes plans. Their plans.

Not Asuka's, it won't.


End file.
